Standardization of Moscow Coma Scale in Patients Hospitalized in Intensive Care Units in Iran

Abstract

Introduction: Moscow scale is an appropriate scale for the evaluation of the level of consciousness in patients hospitalized in intensive care units (ICU). This study aimed to standardize the Moscow scale in patients hospitalized in ICU based on Iran's demographics information. Materials and Methods: This prospective study was performed on 60 patients admitted to ICU. The subjects were selected from Farshchian Medical and Educational Center, in Hamedan Hamadan, 2016. The Moscow questionnaire was translated into Persian by a translator familiar to the subject. Cronbach's alpha was used to determine the reliability of the questionnaire. Moreover, the correlation between the Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) and Moscow scale was assessed using statistical analysis. Results: In this quasi-experimental research design, 51.7% of the patients were male and 48.3% were female. The mean age of the subjects was 60.7±20.7 years. According to our findings, 31.7%, 30%, and 21.7% of the patients were in a deep coma, vegetative state, and moderate coma, respectively. Based on the Glasgow coma scale, consciousness level was within the range of 3-8 in 93.3% of the patients, while it was higher than 8 in 6.7% of them. Cronbach's alpha coefficient indicates that the Moscow scale is fairly reliable, whereas, in the Moscow scale, the coefficient of agreement between the two observations was obtained at 0.83. Conclusion: Based on our results, the Moscow evaluation system has favorable reliability to assess the consciousness level in comatose patients. Therefore, this scale can be introduced as an alternative for the GCS scale in Iran. Introduction: Moscow scale is an appropriate scale for the evaluation of the level of consciousness in patients hospitalized in intensive care units (ICU). This study aimed to standardize the Moscow scale in patients hospitalized in ICU based on Iran's demographics information. Materials and Methods: This prospective study was performed on 60 patients admitted to ICU. The subjects were selected from Farshchian Medical and Educational Center, in Hamedan Hamadan, 2016. The Moscow questionnaire was translated into Persian by a translator familiar to the subject. Cronbach's alpha was used to determine the reliability of the questionnaire. Moreover, the correlation between the Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) and Moscow scale was assessed using statistical analysis. Results: In this quasi-experimental research design, 51.7% of the patients were male and 48.3% were female. The mean age of the subjects was 60.7±20.7 years. According to our findings, 31.7%, 30%, and 21.7% of the patients were in a deep coma, vegetative state, and moderate coma, respectively. Based on the Glasgow coma scale, consciousness level was within the range of 3-8 in 93.3% of the patients, while it was higher than 8 in 6.7% of them. Cronbach's alpha coefficient indicates that the Moscow scale is fairly reliable, whereas, in the Moscow scale, the coefficient of agreement between the two observations was obtained at 0.83. Conclusion: Based on our results, the Moscow evaluation system has favorable reliability to assess the consciousness level in comatose patients. Therefore, this scale can be introduced as an alternative for the GCS scale in Iran. Introduction: Moscow scale is an appropriate scale for the evaluation of the level of consciousness in patients hospitalized in intensive care units (ICU). This study aimed to standardize the Moscow scale in patients hospitalized in ICU based on Iran's demographics information. Materials and Methods: This prospective study was performed on 60 patients admitted to ICU. The subjects were selected from Farshchian Medical and Educational Center, in Hamedan Hamadan, 2016. The Moscow questionnaire was translated into Persian by a translator familiar to the subject. Cronbach's alpha was used to determine the reliability of the questionnaire. Moreover, the correlation between the Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) and Moscow scale was assessed using statistical analysis. Results: In this quasi-experimental research design, 51.7% of the patients were male and 48.3% were female. The mean age of the subjects was 60.7±20.7 years. According to our findings, 31.7%, 30%, and 21.7% of the patients were in a deep coma, vegetative state, and moderate coma, respectively. Based on the Glasgow coma scale, consciousness level was within the range of 3-8 in 93.3% of the patients, while it was higher than 8 in 6.7% of them. Cronbach's alpha coefficient indicates that the Moscow scale is fairly reliable, whereas, in the Moscow scale, the coefficient of agreement between the two observations was obtained at 0.83. Conclusion: Based on our results, the Moscow evaluation system has favorable reliability to assess the consciousness level in comatose patients. Therefore, this scale can be introduced as an alternative for the GCS scale in Iran.